The Army Returns

With a loud "boom", the array plate in the core of the First-Tier Supreme-Grade array of the Three Flowers Manor shattered, and the First-Tier Spirit Vein that supplied energy to the array also broke off, releasing a considerable amount of spiritual energy dust.

The dust and smoke quickly dissipated, exposing the guards of the Three Flowers Manor to the advance of the state government's troops.

"You lackeys of the state court, how dare you bully your fellow cultivators for the sake of the Immortal Dynasty! The Liangyi Sect's army is coming soon, and you will all die a horrible death sooner or later!!" With a cry of alarm from the manor lord Geng Xi, several imposing superior magical artifacts swarmed over, shattering the somewhat renowned head of the family into pieces.

"Kill!" The magistrate of Hong County, who was leading the troops, looked at the calm and collected men from Pingrong County with great displeasure, and his face darkened.

The menacing Hong County militia marched into the Three Flowers Manor. They had been harassing the village for almost half a month, suffering twenty or thirty casualties before finally unleashing their full fury.

Seeing the Three Flowers Manor either flee or continue their desperate resistance like cornered beasts, only to be instantly annihilated by the surging tide of cultivators, Sect Leader Kang Da approached the magistrate of Hong County with a smile, rubbing his fingers and chuckling.

"Hehe, Magistrate Mo, thank you for the gift of one thousand Spirit Stone."

Upon hearing the laughter, Magistrate Mo looked at Kang Dabao with some resentment.

To think that he, the dignified magistrate of Hong County, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, whose background wouldn't be considered bad even in Cloud Horn Prefecture, would be manipulated by this lowly county lieutenant from a poor family.

There was nothing that could be done about it; his team was originally an elite force assembled through many favors from his family.

The team of nearly a hundred people didn't even have a single Qi Refining Early Qi Refining Stage the numbers, nor did they recruit any rogue Rogue Cultivator without any foundation. If they were to set up their carriages and horses and engage in a real battle, they probably wouldn't be much worse than any small formation composed of the Five Aspects Sect disciples.

Compared to the weak soldiers from various counties and townships who were made up of varying levels of cultivation, the Hong County troops, carefully organized by the Mo Household, a Foundation Establishment power, could be considered elite.

Magistrate Mo spent so much resources and effort assembling this force, which was originally intended to fulfill the hopes of his clan and achieve great success for the state.

Unfortunately, the position of vanguard was snatched away by the reckless Xu, which resulted in Kang Dabao, the down-on-his-luck sect leader, gaining face in front of Sima Fei.

In the ensuing battle, the two Sima's outstanding individual combat skills disrupted the Five Aspects Sect's formation in just a few moments, resulting in a swift and devastating defeat.

Because the Hong County troops were relatively well-organized, they were held in the hands of Sima Fei and the Zhou Ting's elite troops for future use, and thus had no chance to compete for the opportunity to hunt down and eliminate the remaining enemy forces in order to make a name for themselves.

This meant that when the Hong County troops were rewarded, they were ranked only ahead of Jin County and Tanggu County, and naturally, they didn't get any good places when they were assigned to suppress the Five Aspects Sect.

If Magistrate Mo were to return empty-handed, it would be extremely embarrassing for the Mo Household of Hong County.

His family's ideas were different from those of the Sect Leader Kang Da. As one of the few Foundation Establishment forces in Cloud Horn Prefecture that dared to directly approach the Prefecture Court, the Mo Household was actively moving closer to the Prefecture Court in every way, fearing that they would not be able to board the giant ship of the Earl of Nan'an.

Huo Bing doesn't have many days left to live, and his family has no other Foundation Establishment. The position of Prefect will soon be vacant, but if the Mo Household doesn't perform well, what will they use to compete for it?

At this moment, Sect Leader Kang Da found Magistrate Mo and declared that he wanted to share the credit for destroying Three Flowers Manor with him, which was quite like a godsend.

The asking price of one thousand Spirit Stone is not expensive; in fact, it can be considered quite cheap.

Even a bandit stronghold like Ghost Horse Owls could yield nearly a thousand Spirit Stone of spiritual materials, let alone a close vassal of the Five Aspects Sect like Three Flowers Manor.

Moreover, after accepting this Spirit Stone, once the local militia of Hong County opened the manor, Kang Dabao would not only not take a single penny, but in return, he would also focus on describing the bravery of the Hong County troops who assisted in the attack in the battle report he later submitted to the state court, and write about how the county magistrate Mo, who led the troops, personally braved arrows and stones and how he took the lead in battle, hoping to leave a good impression on the two Fourth Commanders.

This completely convinced the ambitious Magistrate Mo, who agreed to become a henchman for Sect Leader Kang Da.

Compared to the possibility that Sima Fei would remember this benefit, the small gain at the Three Flowers Manor was insignificant to Magistrate Mo, a direct descendant of Foundation Establishment cultivator.

In this way, Magistrate Mo not only had to do hard labor for Sect Leader Kang Da, but also had to send Sect Leader Kang Da Spirit Stone, and he also owed Sect Leader Kang Da a considerable favor.

Don't think that you're the only one who wants this battle report. The fact that we didn't gather everyone who wanted it together for a small auction is already a favor from Sect Leader Kang Da to you, Magistrate Mo.

Although that was the logic, Magistrate Mo was still unhappy. He reluctantly counted the Spirit Stone and handed them to Kang Dabao, his tone sinister, which made him sound like a bad person.

"County Commandant Kang is lucky! When you get married, don't forget to send a congratulatory invitation to the Mo Household Hong County as well. I, Mo, will definitely pay a visit to offer my congratulations."

Kang Dabao, with a beaming smile, carefully put away the Spirit Stone. He could naturally hear the jealousy in Magistrate Mo's tone; Fang Yi, he also wished they could exchange them.

Sect Leader Kang Da truly had no intention of marrying the noblewoman from the Fei Household. He would be more than satisfied if he could marry a girl from a modest family like the youngest sister from the He Household and have a few sons in peace.

But ironically, he couldn't even make his own decisions about this small matter.

The Pingrong had been watching the drama unfold for almost half a month with Sect Leader Kang Da, and as they witnessed another fierce battle between the Hong County cultivators and the Three Flowers Manor, their resentment dissipated.

After accepting the Spirit Stone, Sect Leader Kang Da released the spirit boat and led everyone back to Pingrong County.

The return journey by airship was much lighter. Kang Dabao sat in a corner and called over the Two Sha of the Feng Household and the Shao Brother and Sister to talk.

"There are three clerk positions under the Pingrong County. If you three Qianxiu want to take them, I can make the decision. Lady of the Shao Household, I will also provide additional compensation."

If you're unwilling, I have five hundred Spirit Stone here. You can divide them among yourselves. Consider it a favor I owe you. Go back and do some clean business, and you won't have to worry about being targeted by others in the future.

However, let me make this Double Brightness first: if any of you still harbor resentment, that's fine too. Once we disembark from the spirit boat, we'll settle things directly and frankly, with no regard for life or death. Just don't try anything behind my back or resort to underhanded tactics; that wouldn't look good."

"We wouldn't dare." The Eldest Feng Household Brother reached for the Spirit Stone and assured, "We brothers will never dare to cause trouble for the county magistrate again."

After being treated by the physician and recuperating for more than half a month, the Eldest Feng Household Brother had recovered most of the injuries caused by the Fire Snake Incantation.

The Second Feng Household Brother was less fortunate. The ice spikes injured his brain, and the physician was reluctant to use good medicine. He is still in a dazed state, drooling and grinning.

As for what will happen next and whether things can recover quickly, it depends on whether the Eldest Feng Household Brother takes good care of him.

The Eldest Feng Household Brother was filled with remorse and dared not harbor any thoughts of revenge. If he had known earlier that Kang Dabao, who was still traveling around doing business a few years ago, was such a ruthless person, he would have stayed far away. Why did he have to extort those few Spirit Stone stones from him and end up like this for his brother?

"The county magistrate is now the son-in-law of the Fei Household. How dare we lowly people provoke him?" Shao Wei grabbed his sister, who was about to say something, and took the Spirit Stone with a forced smile.

Back then, the siblings did more than just collect a few tolls from Kang Dabao on the road. If Sect Leader Kang Da hadn't been somewhat experienced, he would have almost fallen victim to their honey trap and ended up in serious trouble.

In this way, the Sect Leader Kang Da didn't send them to their deaths in battle shows how incredibly magnanimous he is.

They're about to become the Fei Household's son-in-law again, so how could the siblings, who are just insignificant people, dare to harbor any resentment? They just wish they could never have anything to do with each other again.

Kang Dabao saw that everyone had taken the Spirit Stone, and no one was willing to accept the lowly and unranked position of Ling Shi, which was within his expectations.

Nobody's a fool. They don't think that just because the Five Aspects Sect of Guo County has been destroyed, Cloud Horn Prefecture has truly become the domain of the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty. Winning over the people's hearts and eradicating the influence of the Two Instruments Sect will take a long time.

Kang Dabao's thoughts were in complete disarray, and he was in no mood to say anything.

Such simple verbal admonitions may deter virtuous people, but they cannot deter wicked people. In the future, they may very well do something detrimental to the Chongming Sect.

If we're talking about a slightly safer approach, it would be to gather all these fugitives together, trap them, and then have Jiang Qing and his fellow disciples kill them all.

But if we really did that, things would look terrible, violating the promise Kang Dabao had made beforehand and tarnishing the reputation of Sect Leader Kang Da in Pingrong County.

There will certainly be many conquests in the state in the future, and it seems that even the Sect Leader Kang Da will find it difficult to avoid going into battle.

If one's reputation is tarnished too badly in Pingrong County, it will be too difficult to recruit Rogue Cultivator in the same way next time.

At that time, not only will the Rogue Cultivator not believe him, but the various forces will also not believe him. If he wants to cleanse his tarnished reputation, it will take dozens of times more effort.

Doesn't Sect Leader Kang Da still sound like "petty and vindictive, bullying women" in Sima Fei's eyes?

After much deliberation, I decided it was best to spare the lives of these vicious people.

The Sect Leader Kang Da, felt utterly exhausted. He quickly Qian Liu for the others, offered a few perfunctory words of comfort, and then gave each of them fifteen Spirit Stone as a subsidy.

After everyone took turns rowing the spirit boat back to the county with mixed feelings, as soon as they landed at the county government office, Sect Leader Kang Da hurriedly dispersed the group.

The crowd, as if granted a pardon, dispersed and left.

Currently, only Tie Xishan is in charge of the county, and Sun Bingdou is still in Tanggu and has not returned, which is a good thing, as it saves Kang Dabao from the verbal sparring he had prepared.

Luo Heng remained in the yamen and did not come out. News of the Luo Household's entire force being wiped out in the battle had already reached Pingrong County. As a result, the Luo Household had lost half of its cultivators.

This made Luo Heng both angry and afraid of Kang Dabao. After thinking for a long time, he didn't dare to come out of the back office to see him and stayed in the room, weeping sadly.

In this way, Kang Dabao was happy to only have a brief handover with Tie Xishan, the chief clerk, before returning to the Chongming Sect.

The spirit boat from Pingrong County naturally ended up in the Storage Bag of Sect Leader Kang Da. This flying magic Law Artifact, capable of carrying fifty or sixty people at high speed, was a valuable item. Although it was only First Tier magic Law Artifact, it was more expensive than a typical Second Tier Spirit Artifact.

If it weren't for the previous instance where the state court, out of consideration for the insufficient public funds of the various counties, selected some inferior materials and workmanship from the Niu Household's treasury and priced them low, the Spirit Stone that Pingrong County had plundered over the past two years would have been far too little to buy such items.

However, the spirit boat consumed too much Spirit Stone and spiritual energy, so Kang Dabao took his old donkey from the back office to continue the journey.

Nearly two months have passed, and the old donkey seems to have become even shinier. The clerk said that Luo Heng had specifically instructed him to take good care of it.

Kang Dabao thought this fellow probably had ill intentions and was likely hoping that news of his death would reach him soon so he could kill the donkey and eat its flesh to vent his anger.

"But it didn't go as you wished, Daoist Master has returned alive!" Sect Leader Kang Da snorted, thinking about how he had gone through so much trouble while the old donkey had enjoyed so much leisure. He was displeased and whipped the old donkey very hard, urging it to run fast. They were almost at the Chongming Sect's archway.

At that moment, the grass and trees fell silent, the birds vanished, and the entire area within a hundred feet seemed to be filled with a chilling atmosphere.

A sharp gust of wind reached Kang Dabao's ears, making his hair stand on end and cold sweat pour from every pore of his body. The Primordial Gourd at his waist was already flashing with spiritual light, about to release green smoke.

"The assassins from the Two Instruments Sect arrived so quickly!"

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